Vending machines of the above type generally produce a number of different beverages, normally including espresso coffee and various types of ‘soluble’ beverages, such as chocolate, tea, and broth.
Because of the variety of beverages produced, the need has arisen to employ cups of different types and sizes, depending on the selected beverage, i.e. a small cup for espresso coffee, and a larger cup for the other beverages.
Accordingly, vending machines of the above type are known, in which the cup store comprises two or more stores for respective types of cups; and the supporting means comprises two or more cup-holders, each designed to receive a respective type of cup from a respective store, and which are operated to move between respective cup-receiving stations and a shared dispensing station with a fixed dispensing device.
Since the dispensing station normally also functions as the user take-out station, which means the dispensing device is easily accessible from the outside and therefore exposed to vandalism, the dispensing device is normally protected by a guard operated to move to and from a guard position shielding the dispensing device, or is mounted to move between the dispensing station and a rest position inaccessible from the outside.
Though effectively solving the problem of employing cups of different sizes, the size and number of the moving parts involved in the above solution makes it unsuitable in cases requiring a particularly compact vending machine.